Just past by the window of Tal Bagel, and they have these lovely jelly and custard filled donuts in the windows. If I weren't trying to diet, I definitely would have stopped in to buy some of them; they look delicious!

If my memory serves me well they were a lot like the ones you get from polish markets, which are a little different (bigger, more dough) then what I think of as the Israeli style. Jelly donuts aren't hard to come by, but the OP is probably (hard to guess) looking for sugar rolled instead of powder sugared.

A sufganiyah (Hebrew: סופגנייה‎; plural, sufganiyot: סופגניות) is a ball-shaped doughnut that is first fried, pierced and injected with jelly or custard, and then topped with powdered sugar, similar to the German Berliner, the Polish pączki, or the Russian ponchik. In Yiddish, they are known as ponchkes. They are usually eaten warm.

The Hebrew word sufganiyah derives from the Hebrew word for sponge (sfog, Hebrew: ספוג‎).[1] This is supposed to describe the texture of a sufganiyah, which is somewhat similar to a sponge. The sufganiyah was originally made from two circles of dough surrounding a jam filling, stuck together and fried in one piece.[2] Although this method is still practiced, an easier technique commonly used today is to deep-fry whole balls of dough and then inject them with a filling through a baker's syringe (or a spe

Well it's important to know what you considered to be traditional for you. If someone had advised me of a custard filled donut for the holiday, I wouldn't have been to happy with the suggestion. It also sounds like you prefer powder sugar to regular granulated sugar.

With that in mind, any Polish deli in Greenpoint that has some pastries would have them, same with many of the polish butchers in the East Village. Holy Land grocery carries products from Israel, and they will have a couple boxes of donuts similar to what you get from the polish bakeries. There is a Hasidic grocery store in Williamsburg, on the southside which carries them. You can also find a jelly donuts, and custard filleds at Dunkin' Donuts, Donut Pub, and Peter Pan in Brooklyn. If you prefer them to be smaller bite sized ball shaped you can see if Dunkin' Donuts still carries the jelly donut holes. So that gives you some options to look into.

yes I checked The Holy Land Market on St. Mark's between Ave A and First Ave does have them--best to call ahead because they come in the afternoon and soon sell out--price $2.00 each and am told very delicious.

You might try Orwasher's bakery, 78th street between 2nd Ave and either 3rd or 1st Ave. They are a traditional Jewish bakery with a good variety of breads, and tend to carry traditonal Jewish holiday pastries.

Not exactly on topic, but another slant on holiday tradition. Why do we eat latkes on Chanukah?Because long ago, Judah Maccabee took one of his wife's latkes, stuck a wick in it and lit it. It burned for 8 days.

this might be a bit of a schlep for you, but there's a very old school bakery in my neighborhood (washington heights) called gideon's bakery that has them. i don't know whether the sufganiyot is good, but in general, the bakery is well liked amongst my friends, at least.